Rehri Goth has a public toilet. Only one.

KARACHI: Every day, early in the morning, Nawaz Dablo, a resident of Dabla Paaro in Rehri Goth, stands in a queue, waiting for his turn to fulfil the call of nature in the area’s only public toilet.

Since Dabla Paaro has not yet been provided with sanitation facility, a toilet is built about 500 metres from the settlement, five feet above sea level.

The roof-less toilet, which serves almost all of the 2,500 male dwellers of the village, is raised near a concrete wall built to check seawater intrusion.

“Come before dawn and you would see a line of area men waiting for their turn,” 30-year-old Nawaz tells The Nature News. “Three public toilets were constructed in the village but they are non-operational. Sewerage lines have not yet been laid there.”

Dabla Paaro has not yet been provided with sanitation facility, a toilet is built about 500 metres from the settlement, five feet above sea level. Photo by Zulfiqar Kubhar

During high tide, when seawater rises above four feet, residents of Dabla Paaro face multiple challenges.

Due to non-availability of a proper sanitation system, sewerage lines are connected with pipes in nearby ground facing the sea. When there is sea rise, particularly during monsoon, pipes discharge sewage, which also gets inside the houses.

Nawaz demands the authorities concerned to provide a proper drainage system to his village.

“Former caretaker chief minister of Sindh Abdul Qadir Halepoto announced to turn Rehri Goth into a model village consisting 200 houses with proper sewerage system, but to no avail,” he says.

But four years ago, as part of an international project, the United Nations Development Programme built 52 concrete houses with toilets in a nearby locality.

“Building of toilet at my door step has secured privacy of my nine-member family,” says Amna Bibi. “It has restored some dignity unlike the past when we had to go outside to fulfil the call of nature.”
“There are concrete toilets but no drainage system,” she complains.